Café Majestic opened in 1921 on Rua de Santa Catarina — Porto's main pedestrian shopping street — and has remained, through a serious restoration in the 1980s, the most architecturally complete Belle Époque café in the city. The exterior is in carved terracotta and gilded plaster with cherub reliefs and Art Nouveau flourishes; the interior continues in carved mahogany, mirrored panels, and white-jacketed waiters. The private courtyard accessible through the Art Nouveau double doors at the back — ornate ironwork, climbing wisteria, classical statues on the staircase, a mature tree — is the room that the café does not advertise. Order the galão and the pastel de nata. The crowds arrive after 10am; the experience before that is of a different quality entirely. Majestic is not undiscovered, but it is genuine — the building justifies the visit on architectural terms alone.
Rua de Santa Catarina, Porto, Portugal